Years ago, while practicing for a tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Texas, Women's Bassmaster Tour pro Kathi Hurst spotted a water moccasin in a bush and just couldn't resist the urge to mess with it.
"I flipped a craw worm up there - aggravating it because I could," the Mississippi angler said. "When it reached around and grabbed my bait, I thought, 'This is not good.' So I tried to pull it out of its mouth, but it hung on. I pulled it into the water before it finally let go. "And I was relieved."
10 Things You Might Not Know About Shaw Grigsby
Shaw Grigsby is one of America's best-known and most-popular bass pros, with a stellar resume that includes eight BASS victories, 10 runner-up performances, 10 appearances in the Bassmaster Classic and more than $1 million in BASS earnings.
But here are 10 things you might not know about the 50-year-old competitor:
10.) Grigsby is an avid hunter. "I love archery," he said. "In my spare time, which I have very little of, I like to spend it hunting. It also gives me some quality time with my kids in the outdoors."
9.) Grigsby is more than a sight fisherman. "Most people think of me as a sight fisherman," he said. "What you don't hear about is how I won a tournament on a spinnerbait at Lake Sinclair in Georgia. Another thing is I almost won the Classic crankbaiting. I finished second behind (David) Fritts.
"I have a lot of facets to my fishing besides sight-fishing. I feel confident with a lot of different techniques. Some of them I don't feel so confident in. But a lot of them I feel that I can hang in there in most situations."
8.) What he considers his best personality trait will not come as a surprise to most he has met.
"I'm very approachable. I enjoy the people and fans are what make any sport. That's one," Grigsby said.
"Another would be that I have a lot of passion; passion for the sport and passion for the people in the sport. I truly care where the sport goes and I have forever. I truly think that it's the finest sport on the planet."
7.) And his worst trait?
"I'm pretty picky; I do things a certain way," he said. "Set in my ways would be a good term. That doesn't mean in fishing; that's in my personal life. In fishing you can't be set in your ways."
6.) Grigsby is married to a very devoted wife, who worked for years as a nurse to support his tournament habit early in his career. In fact, Polly had "CABO" inscribed on his wedding ring. It stands for, "Catch a big one."
5.) If his late father had it his way, Grigsby might be an all-star in the family's exterminating business.
4.) Grigsby earned his first $100,000 check in 1984, at the age of 28, when he won the Red Man All-American Bass Championship on Florida's Lake Tohopekaliga.
3.) Fly-fishing for tarpon is a summertime passion of this well-rounded angler.
2.) The Gainesville, Fla., pro might be the best fisherman to never win a major BASS title (Angler of the Year, Classic, Major or MegaBucks) - a tag that makes him bristle.
1.) Grigsby's first sponsor was Stren fishing lines in 1983. Although the company has been sold several times since then, he remains sponsored by Stren, which now is owned by Pure Fishing.
SCARY SCENARIO
It was tough enough for Becky McKinney to compete in the recent Women's Bassmaster Tour tournament while being seven months pregnant. But it was the return trip home to Florida that proved to be more punishing.
McKinney and WBT co-angler and Florida resident Violette Sesco were returning from Texas' Lewisville Lake on I-10 near Pensacola when a car suddenly veered into their lane.
"(Other than hitting the brakes) there was nothing else I could do," McKinney told the Ocala Star-Banner. "The boat and trailer jackknifed, we went sliding off the road and then another car hit us. It was the scariest thing that I've ever been through. It could have been so much worse. I don't like to think about how much worse it might have been.
"It was terrible, just awful. It happened in an instant, but it seemed like it took forever. I hope that's it for me, that nothing like that ever happens again. I just want to fish; I don't want to go through all of that."
Sesco suffered a fractured wrist, while McKinney was largely unscathed. The same couldn't be said for her boat and truck.
McKinney is likely to miss the WBT event in late July, when her baby is due. Sesco still plans to fish.
DALLAS DETOUR
On the way to Fort Worth, Texas, for the Bassmaster Memorial, Gerald Swindle and Marty Stone made a special trip to a Dallas hospital to visit Tony Guinn, a paraplegic solider and Iraq war veteran.
A family member had contacted a BASS official earlier and requested that one of the Memorial competitors stop by and see Guinn, an avid angler.
"When we heard about it, we agreed right away to do it," Swindle said. "Marty and I both consider it a privilege and it's the least we could do for someone who risked his life protecting our freedom so we can do things like fish for a living. We were really honored.
"Sgt. Guinn is a serious fisherman, and we had a real good time talking with him and being with him and his family. He was real appreciative that we had stopped by to see him. But we kept telling him over and over that we were the ones who were humbled by being with him.
"Here was a man who has done two tours in Iraq, and then got injured in a training mission; and all we do is fish. That really gets to you. It puts everything in perspective."
Upon leaving, Swindle took off his tournament jersey and left it with his new friend. Then he and Stone spontaneously agreed to visit other veterans in the hospital.
WRAP RAP
Veteran pro Byron Velvick's wrapped boat for the Bassmaster Elite Series is what he calls a "generic wrap." It promotes his sponsors - Mercury, MotorGuide, Biosonix, Okuma and JDC Marketing. It also has the number 24 on the side, "Because it's my birthday and it's a good number in roulette," he said.
You can tell that Velvick once lived near Las Vegas until last year, when he moved to Tampa, Fla.
The 24 on his Triton is a conversation-starter, since people often assume he is a fan of racecar driver Jeff Gordon.
"I didn't realize Jeff Gordon was such a big hit and miss with people," Velvick said. "KVD (Elite Series pro Kevin VanDam) came up to me at the Classic and said, 'Are you 24? You've got to change that. Jeff Gordon is hated.'"
"It's amazing - it's either love or hate with Gordon. Kevin was right. People will see me at gas stations and say, 'I hope you're not a Jeff Gordon man. I hate him.' I'll say, 'I don't even know Jeff Gordon.'"
DID YOU KNOW?
Here's a tough one. Can you name the fisherman who won the first BASS Federation tournament ever held? It was Wendell Mann, who went on to become the first Federation angler to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic - both in 1973.
IF I HADN'T BECOME A BASS PRO
Women's Bassmaster Tour competitor Linda Sands would be spending more time tending to the family's construction business.
"My husband and I are both homebuilders," said the 49-year-old pro from Cullman, Ala. "My husband travels with me, so we've been leaving the work for my son-in-law."
THEY SAID IT
"When I got to Clarks Hill, I didn't have a clue and the top-10 guys were all throwing these crazy striper-looking baits and giant jigs that nobody carries around in their tackle box. Then all of a sudden they've all got them. That was an eye-opener for me." - pro Brad Hallman of Oklahoma was in for a big surprise at the Clarks Hill Lake tournament in Georgia last month.